Nonito Donaire had a special favor to fulfill his promise to his two sons for them to touch and hold the Muhammad Ali trophy.
The Filipino Flash failed to win the trophy at the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight final match against Japanese Naoya Inoue yesterday.
Donaire was defeated via unanimous decision so he asked his opponent if he could borrow it for a day.
“I promised my sons they would see it in the morning. And with tears in my eyes, I humbly asked Inoue to borrow it for a night, not for me but for my word,” Donaire said.
He said that this could be a good lesson for his sons that you cannot win all the time.
“It’ll be a life lesson my boys will soon learn. That you do your best and you come short. You will win. You will lose. But in either aspect, you will do so graciously,” he said.
The Filipino boxer said he teaches his son not to back down from challenges in life.
“It’ll pain them to see my face. They’ll kiss my wounds. They’ll see a trophy we don’t get to take home and understand what it means to want to train harder,” he added.
He said that his sons realized that life is a battle and ever give up no matter what.
“And I told about the battle I fought that I’d rather put my life on that shield than give up. And that we will always fight,” he said.
